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Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Pedometer Trackers: My comparison of Garmin VivoFit & Fitbit One

These little trackers are EVERY WHERE!!!

I knew these were cool before the world did. I used to wear a pedometer that was the size of a pager - for those of you that are old enough to remember pagers when they were all the rage... before cell phones even existed.

But seriously - I have always loved the drive of knowing how many steps I've taken in a day....

& when these little gadgets came out, I was on board to upgrade my heavy hip-bearing pedometer to a little electronic wonder.

Enter into my life my FitBit One.

I have loved everything about it. Seriously. I have recommended it to everyone. I panic when I loose it on my clothes. I can't live without it.

& then I kept seeing all these wrists trackers popping up & wondered how they worked.

I was never planning on getting another one until my FitBit One conked out.. but then that dang Amazon had to go do a Deal of the Day on the Garmin Vivofit for $59.00 ... heck, I spend $59.00 at Starbucks in a week... not really... kinda.... so went ahead & ordered it.

So I've been using BOTH of my pedometers for 2 weeks now. & here's my pro/con list of the two

FitBit One

Pros:

* It seems pretty dang accurate. It was actually listed in the top 3 of the most accurate pedometers because it is on the waist, along with the FitBit Zip.

* Love the ease of finding people & friending them on the app.

* Love the challenges that people extend every day or week/weekend

* Syncs automatically when turning on app or Bluetooth is on

* Counts steps in incline/stairs

Cons:

* Have to remember to charge about every 7-8 days

* Easy to forget that its on clothes when you take them off & throw into the laundry

* Bulky to wear under clothes when you have to wear on undergarments

* which leads to - not always convenient to wear (dresses)

* If sitting a certain way or cramped up, will turn on sleeping mode by hitting button

Garmin VivoFit

Pros:

* No battery that needs to be charged - lasts for a year

* Waterproof. Love I don't have to ever take it off.

* Comfortable.

* Use as a watch since its on my wrist

* Red Line shows when haven't moved in awhile - a great motivator to get moving.
* Like you can change the color of your bands

Cons:

* Does not count steps when pushing basket/stroller, cutting grass or holding a purse & arm is not swinging, or walking while holding something.

So as you can see - they both are handy... they both have advantages & disadvantages

I really hate that the Garmin Vivo Fit is weird on how it counts & doesn't count steps.

I will go in the grocery & push the cart & it doesn't count me but going a few steps the whole time. Can you imagine if you were in Disney World pushing a stroller all day & it took you for doing like 2000 steps for the day? nooooo!!!!!

I even cut the grass with it on & walked for 35 minutes & it only counted me doing 100 steps the entire time. That's really not cool.

But I will say, when it wouldn't count those steps where the arms aren't moving & my FitBit would continue to count my steps, it actually sort of even-ed out the playing field making them almost even.

& I'm not even sure how this worked, but when I went for my run for my 10k, the Garmin counted LESS steps then my FitBit... probably because with my shoulder injury, I try to minimize my arms from swinging.

That's messed up.

But I kept count of 2 weeks worth of difference

FitBit / Garmin 2 week Difference

Day 1 - 10,553 / 12,677 / 2124

Day 2 - 11,266 / 23,399 / 2133

Day 3 - 8,391 / 10,242 / 1851

Day 4 - 10,772 / 11,783 / 1011

Day 5 - 16,542 / 14,094 / <2448> ... this was my 10K???

Day 6 - 10,196 / 11,483 / 1287

Day 7 - 6,449 / 6,960 / 511

Day 8 - 10,257 / 12,263 / 2006

Day 9- 10,151 / 12,542 / 2391

Day 10 - 8,687 / 10,547 / 1850

Day 11 - 10,027 / 11,016 / 989

Day 12 - 10,322 / 10,166 / <156>

Day 13 - 11,159 / 13,348 / 2189

Day 14- 10,576 / 10,810 / 234

As you can see - there is no rhyme or reason to the difference!!!!

Some days were really close... but the majority is around 2,000 steps difference.

Go figure.

I guess the key is to know that neither is 100% accurate...

& they both have great things about them... both have flaws.

I'm not even sure I could pick a favorite if I had to because I like them both for different reasons.

I would say I would pick my FitBit for Accuracy.
I would pick my Garmin for Convenience.

I just know they keep me moving... & that's not a bad thing.

For the record, I'll probably always wear both until one of them bombs or I make the jump to the ones that have the heart rate monitors built into them... I obviously am a number person so I will enjoy the comparison thing for awhile.

10 comments:

I just received a Fitbit wrist band for Mother's Day. I'm going to swap the color so I haven't used it yet. This is a great comparison. I need to remember to always swing my arm no matter what I'm doing!

I have the Garmin Vivosmart and absolutely LOVE IT! My steps are very accurate I feel and I LOVE the function that give you text messages etc on your wrist. I'm a social media nutso - so I like my notifications coming on my arm. CON: expensive at $160 but I NEVER take it off!

I do not have a fitness tracker because I'm too lazy to even track my runs let alone all of the other crazy stuff those bracelets track. I love the idea of them though and I may get one in the future, but right now it is not for me. I remember when I was in school and they gave out those pager size pedometers to everyone. I thought I was so cool!

I have found I'm a little OCD about checking it. I panic when I don't have on a tracker... & now that I'm wearing 2? Before you know it, I'll have an arm full of them always comparing numbers. This may be my cry for help :) haha

What a fantastic comparison! You have pointed out all major facts of this device. Recently I took a Fitbit Charge HR. But I started using it without setting up. Now I need to Reset Fitbit Charge HR to start using from the beginning. Can you Please advise me?

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